The Fairfax Stone

On my way back from Hoye-Crest and Backbone Mountain to my undisclosed location, I stopped at a historical marker known as the Fairfax Stone.  The stone is located a few miles east of U.S. highway 219 in its own namesake state park, the state being West Virginia.  The stone also marked the boundary of West Virginia and Maryland, but looking at GoogleMaps, the current boundary is about 3,900 feet further north, along the North Branch of the Potomac River.  The stone also marked the western boundary of a land grant given by the king of England to an ancestor of a man known as Lord Fairfax, to whom the grant eventually descended.  Depending on the source, the king was either King James II or King Charles II, and the grantee was either Thomas Lord Culpeper or Lord Hopton.  Here's the Fairfax Stone, which is the fifth stone to bear that name.

Behind and below the stone is a spring, which is the source of a creek that eventually flows into the aforementioned North Branch of the Potomac River.

I took a closer shot of the plaque on the Fairfax Stone.

Nearby was this stone, marked with the date "1910".

For more information about the Fairfax Stone, besides the above link, go to Visit Mountaineer Country, Potomac River Guide, The West Virginia Encyclopedia, The Historical Marker Database and American Heritage.